The Dreadnaught
It floated silently through the void of space, the dark ship almost unseen except for the blue glow from its engines. No signal came from it, no distress beacon or identification ping. The species of the galaxy have been watching it from afar, looking for a pattern, a reason.
But there was nothing. There was always nothing. It was aimless in its voyage. No planetary scanning or dis embarkment. It just floated around purposelessly.
Some species were brave enough to send small crews to it, to see if it was just a dialect ship, abandoned and ready for the taking. No one ever came back. The crews lost communication once they boarded, and no answers ever came from them.
Theories and rumors spread across the galaxy, the ship was haunted, and the crews sent out to retrieve it went mad and took their own lives. Others believed it may have had an effect like the Greek Lotus Tree, where whomever enters forgets their life and remains on the ship for the rest of their days.
Whatever it was, the more and more people who went on board, the more people lost their loved ones. It got to a point where people who went on the missions had to be volunteers, and those who had no friends or family to complain. It wasn't hard to find the people who made the cut. Lots of people from many species lost loved ones to wars, some people were hard criminals or drug addicts, willing to make the sacrifice for even the chance at coming out with the bribe money pooled together.
Unfortunately, I was lonely and desperate enough to make the cut. My family died in one of the many colonies' civil wars, and I never stayed in one place long enough for form any meaningful relationships. I was out on the street most of the time, looking for my next meal in a waste bin and begging for credits to get to the next shithole.
The credits would be nice, a chance to get off the street and be comfortable for a while. Maybe get the chance to get a half decent dead-end job and live out my days with a roof over my head and warm food in my belly. The thought made my stomach grumble.
I waited in a long line, out in the unrelenting cold of a frostbitten planet. This was the only chance someone like me had of getting a guaranteed meal and some warm clothes, maybe even a bed for a night. A suicide mission became really worth the risk when you live on a planet like this one. The line moved slowly, like a caterpillar moving person by person. Some came prepared with little torches to keep themselves huddled around for warmth, others just stood, heavy tattered coats protecting them against the gusting wind and biting cold. Some would give up after hours of waiting and just leave, making the line that much shorter for the rest of us.
I stood outside the door, an armed guard in front blocking the entrance only letting us in one at a time. It had felt like I stood there for almost an hour since the last desperate soul walked in before the guard stepped aside to let me in.
Warmth from inside beckoned me in, and I never hesitated to walk through that door, regardless of what walking in meant. I stood inside, soaking it in for only a moment before someone clearing their throat very impatiently demanded my attention. A female Cheabi sat behind a horseshoe shaped desk, the only desk in the room. Her tentacles spread gracefully out from beneath her, while she typed on multiple holo-keyboards spread around her, all the while, two of her many hands folded in front of her, as she waited for me to get down to business and ask me the series of questions necessary for this type of assignment.
"Sorry ma'am." I grumbled awkwardly as I approached her. She waved to the chair in front of her, insisting I sit. I took the seat, not entirely sure how I should be seated. I felt so dirty here, in this pristine room and clean, professional Cheabi lady. "Name." She ordered bluntly. "Uh, Neilaill. Neilaill Ka'al-El'ars." "Species." "Shaxpian." She looked at me up and down for a moment. "Not many of you left. Shame to see you go to waste at a place like this." The comment surprised me. "How do you mean?" She tilted her head to the side in a Cheabian style shrug, "I would personally be trying to replenish my species if there was as few Cheabi as there is Shaxpian." I shrunk a little in my seat, if there was more than a couple thousand Shaxpian, it might be a worthwhile idea, but with so little population left across the galaxy, it's rare to come by another Shaxbian in a lifetime, let alone one to mate with.
She continued questioning me while I stared at things in the room. A tree from Celevan stood weakly in the corner, a few Bhaver relics along the wall. She typed away everything I told her before directing me to a door on the right side of the room labeled number II. I shuffled over to the door, hearing her call to the guard to let the next doomed idiot into the room behind me.
In the room was a shower, a bench, and a clean, dry black uniform. I rushed to the shower, throwing my old clothes into the waste bin next to the door. I jumped under the hot water, not caring that it scalded my flesh into a deep purple. I soaked in it for what felt like ages, it had been years since I last had a hot shower. At least they had the good sense of making the shower straight out of the ceiling, so I didn't have to crouch to get my head wet. Warm to my core, I finally stepped out. Clean and refreshed I grabbed the uniform on the bench. For a suicide mission, this all was feeling pretty damn good.
I strapped up my boots and walked out the next door. A large Bhaver guard stood on the other side, waiting for me. "Come." Another order. I followed him down the corridor into another room, this one was large and full of ammunitions and weapons. He handed me a variety of weapons, all with matching ammo. With that sorted he walked me down another corridor into another room, a bunk of sorts with 3 others already inside.
"Bed. Sleep here. Dinner two hours. Mess hall." He grunted. Fighting was their strength, not their vocabulary. I walked into the room, three Lixoleon sat on their beds, two male and one female. They were already making bets as to who was going to be the first to get killed off. I dropped down on the bottom bunk and let myself sink into the bed, my feet dangling off the end. A short nap in a real bed sounded great, until one of the Lixoleon piped up from the top bunk,
"So, what sap story do you have to be here Shax?" He grinned down to me. "Too long to bother telling." I grumbled, rolling over with my back to them, hoping they would get the hint to leave me out of their drama. "I bet life's just not worth living for the few of you that's left huh?" He sneered. "Hey man leave him alone," The female droned, already seeming sick of his shit, "We need him alive for this, listing to your bullshit is gonna make him off himself before we even get out there." I stifled a laugh. At least someone here was honest. They continued to bicker back and forth; I did my best to tone them out and let sleep take me for a little while.
The next morning, we were shipped off to a freighter that was to take us to the current location of the ship. It was a 6-week trip, even at light speed. It was long enough for people to get chummy, make some last friends before we inevitably die. The female Lixolean, Shienno, stuck with me for most of the trip. I wasn't sure if she pitied how lonely I was, or just hated the others enough to prefer my gloomy presence.
A plague wiped out a good portion of the population on the planet she lived on, her lover being one of them. She wandered like I did for a while, moving from planet to planet to find something worth living for. She eventually decided she wanted to try to fulfill their dream, build a homestead somewhere warm. For that she needed money, and money she didn't have. This was her only shot at being able to afford her dream, or she was going to die trying, and be reunited with her love. Kinda sad either way you look at it, but it was a better reason than, "I'm starving and cold all the time and I'm never going to find someone to love anyway." She laughed at that and said if we make it out alive, I could come stay with her on her homestead and be sad and lonely together. It was kind of endearing really.
The 6 weeks went by quicker than anticipated, and now we could see the blue glow from the ship's engines in the distance. We were debriefed on what little knowledge we had about the ship, and what our plan was should we survive. The freighter would be leaving as soon as we boarded, mostly because there was no point in waiting to have no one come back. One of our main objectives was to get the communications unjammed so information could be given about the ship. The other was to leave whatever information we could in case we didn't make it. We were all given radios, all of which has recording devices on so whomever comes after can make some progress where we might fail.
Shuttles took us out to the ship when we got close enough. There was about 25 of us ready to board. Shienno stuck close by me since the debriefing. Her face was emotionless, focused, but I could see the fear in her eyes when I was too far away. The shuttle locked onto the ship and the airlock opened in front of us, leading the first 12 of us inside.
The ship was dark, the flashlights from our weapons the only thing allowing us to see. It didn't look like an abandoned ship. It looked rather new, maintained well. The surfaces around us were clean, free of any debris, or sign that anyone was there before us. That made it all the more unsettling. For how many people went in before us, we were expecting something, anything, whether that be bodies, or someone living on the ship. But there was nothing.
Our stepped echoed along the walls as we made our way inside, some jumping a bit at the hiss of the airlock when the other team boarded. "My bet is that everyone who just startled, are going to be the first one's dead" I whispered to Shienno. A smirk snuck across her face at that. "Where do you think everyone is?" She whispered back, the eeriness unsettling her as well. "Dunno, guess we're gonna find out." I patted her back lightly, a small encouragement. She nodded and we pressed on.
Our team slowly separated, small groups going down other halls and checking rooms, until it was just Shienno and I. We ended up in what seemed to be the kitchen. Again, spotless. We walked around the room, looking for any sign of someone before us, radio, weapons. "Anyone find a radio yet?" Someone crackled over the radio. "Not yet" another replied, "Anyone else think it's weird?" The radio crackled with other murmurs of agreement. I heard Shienno curse from the other side of the room, behind one of the counters. I looked over to see her holding a little black box. A radio. I hurried to her side. "Where did you find that?' "In a drawer? Shoved among some cooking utensils." She looked at me confused. I nodded at the box, beckoning her to play it. A hushed voice was barely audible on the small speaker. "Hide your tapes," He panted, "Somethings been picking them up, cleaning up after us, that's why no one has been able to make any progress. All information is being carried away." Shienno and I looked at each other. "Something". What the hell does that mean?
"We found a tape. Check drawers and cabinets, anything that could contain other items. They've been hiding their tapes, so they won't get picked up." I called over the radio. The radio returned with a buzz of noise. Most of which "What do you mean 'Picked up.' ?" "I don't know, we just found one saying to hide the tapes, something has been cleaning house and taking away information left behind." The radio was buzzing again. "I found one!" Someone called out, pausing a moment while they listened, "It's like the ship is alive? It repairs itself. Any damage done to it, it's some kind of nanobots flow in from the damaged spot, like platelets clotting a wound." That would explain why the ship is in such good condition, constantly repairing itself. Who could have come up with something so advanced? I wondered if that's also what was cleaning up after everyone here.
We put the box back in the drawer, just in case someone else would need it. After a thorough search in all the cabinets and drawers and finding no other radio's, we headed back for the door. "We should try to find a Command Center, or someplace that might have a layout of the ship." Shienno suggested. It was a good idea, but the main problem being that there were no signs telling us where anything might be. "Well, someone has to come across it at some point. Or another message on how to get there." I said, "Best to keep moving the way we are now until we find something." She nodded in agreement, not much else to do.
A few rooms later a voice came over the radio again. "I just found another tape; they talked about hearing a voice in the air vents. It was leading them somewhere?" They sounded hesitant adding that last part. Another voice came over the radio, "Good to know, anyone hears it, best to steer clear of wherever it's trying to get you to go. Sounds like a trap to me." "Pfft, yeah no shit." I scoffed. Everything is potentially a trap in this place. We continued down the corridor, checking rooms as we went, with very little headway. We checked under cots and chairs, hoping to find anything to lead us.
"Is anyone down in engineering?" A hushed voice came over the radio. All the answers coming back as no. "Something is down here with us, we can hear footsteps coming from behind us, but we can't see anything." Suddenly the air was electrified. Everyone was on edge. First sign of "something". I felt Shienno do a scan behind us. "I just heard fire; can anyone confirm?" Another voice came over. A chill ran down my spine, no one was going to confirm, because something in us all knew those shots came from whoever was in engineering. "Can anyone confirm?" The voice snapped, and no one responded. Shit. I felt Shienno tuck against me. First ones down, and it was not a good feeling. "Let's keep moving." I told her, trying to focus on anything else. She hesitated before moving along with me, her rifle raised and constantly scanning behind us.
It wasn't long before someone found another tape. This one thinking that they were being watched, and to blow out all cameras. It takes a little while for the ship to regenerate, so knocking them out would give us a few hours of cover. We called them shot for shot, as to not alarm anyone who might be nearby. No one said it, but there were noticeably fewer and fewer voices reporting back. There were about 4 distinct voices aside from ours calling shots after about 2 hours into boarding. Being hopeful, that meant there was at least 5 teams of two, ten people left. 15 unaccounted for. It made me sick to my stomach, but I said nothing as to not alarm Shienno, if she didn't already notice.
We were in what looked to be some kind of entertainment room. A few screens rested along the walls, a handful of couches. I searched the couches while Shienno kept scanning the room for threats. I lifted a cushion to find another black box. I played it while she kept her eyes on the door. "The Command Center is just down the hall, and I think communications is through it. We're trying to figure out how to get there, but the door is locked down from the inside, and we can't get in. There's an entrance to a maintenance shaft just down the hall, were hoping that might lead us inside." My gut churned. I hate tight spaces, and I'm not exactly small. "Neilaill." I heard Shienno call to me. I looked up at her, and she looked concerned. "You good?" She asked. I shoved the feeling down and nodded. "Peachy." She gave me a bit of a skeptical look. I called it in to the remaining others before standing, informing them that's the way we were headed.
We found the grate leading to the maintenance shaft quickly, it wasn't exactly hidden. She quickly unscrewed the bolts holding it and shoved the grate aside. "After you." She motioned. I felt my hearts leap into my throat, and my skin go cold. "Hey, what's up with you?" she asked, concern returning to her eyes. "Hmm?" "Your skin just went gray as a stone," she said motioning to my hands on my rifle, "And you just got this glazed look over your eyes. The fuck is going on Neilaill?" She demanded a bit more sternly this time. I couldn't speak, my throat went tight as I stared into the little black hole. Her petite frame came into view, stepping directly in front of me, demanding my attention. "Neilaill!" She called again, I looked at her this time, and the worlds spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them. "I can't go in there." I whispered. She looked confused now. "Why the hell not?" She almost seemed to be getting angry now. I shrunk back a bit, my tall frame slouching against the wall. "I'm terrified of small spaces. I can't go in there." She looked at me, and then at the hole. "Small? Dude that's like 3 feet high it's not that bad?" I stood up again, my full height putting her head just below my sternum. "Thats two feet shorter than you are kid, and I'm two feet taller than you AND claustrophobic." I seethed, "I'd like to see you fit into a box that comes just above your knees and see how comfortable you are." Her demeanor turned from annoyed to thoughtful. "Ok, I can kinda understand that." She reasoned. She looked back at the hole, and then back at me. "Ok, I'll go in and get onto the other side, I'll try to let you in through the door. I can figure out most tech, this shouldn't be too hard." I gawked at her. "Like hell you are." "Why not? Someone has to go in and it sure as shit isn't going to be you!" She had a point. I shook my head in defiance. "No, we will find another way in. I'm not letting you go in there alone; we have no idea what's on the other side." I tried to reason with her. She grabbed me by the arms, pulling my attention down. "This is the ONLY way. You know it Neilaill and so do I. I'll keep in radio contact the whole time, and you can watch me on the other side through the door." She pointed down the hall to the Command Center entrance. A big double wide glass door dividing the space we were in, and the space we needed to be in. I nodded reluctantly, "Alright, but I'm telling whoever is left to get their asses over here." "Ok." She sighed, relieved I finally relented.
I got on the radio quickly. "Were at the Command Center, we think communications is just ahead, whoever is left we need you on our backs." I commanded into the radio. "On it, we will be there as soon as we can." A voice responded. "Were almost at the engine bay, trying to see if we can get some power turned on." The other team reported. Two remained. We're down to maybe 6 people on this ship. What the fuck happened? No one alerted us that they were in trouble. Shit this wasn't looking good. Whatever was picking us off was doing it very quietly.
I walked back over to Shienno, who was standing just outside the shaft. "One team is on the way, hopefully have some back up soon." "I know, I can hear." she joked. "I'm sorry, this all just makes me really anxious. I really don't want you to go in there." I admitted, shifting awkwardly. She smiled up at me with spikey little teeth. "Aww, I haven't had someone worry about me in decades." She purred. I shoved her head lightly. "Don't get any wrong ideas now, I'm just worried I'll lose my free couch to surf on." She smiled again, braver now. We were so close. SO fucking close. "They should be here soon. I'm gonna get in there, you keep an eye out on the other side, ok?" "Yeah," I sighed, "See you on the other side."
I watched through the other side of the door, looking for any threat to appear so I could tell her to back the fuck out of that crawl space. "How are you looking?" I asked. She laughed from the other side. "Probably a good idea you didn't try to squeeze in her, so many pipes and wires to weave around." I chuckled a bit at that. "How close are you?" I heard her grunt in annoyance, "Well, I can't see the other side yet, so I'm assuming I have a little way to go." A voice crackled on the radio that wasn't hers. "WHAT THE FUCK?" I heard someone scream. "What's going on?" myself and the other team called, I watched through the door, anxiety rising in my throat. Someone was panting on the radio, as if they were running. "We just got to the engine bay! Man, this shit is fucked we have to get out of here!" "Talk to us! What is going on?" one of the guys from the other team demanded. "Everyone is down here! Every person who's been sent here, they're all in the engine bay! They're, oh God," I heard him retch from wherever he was, "Ugh, they're strung up, like-like livestock going to slaughter!" Another retch. "They're attached to a bunch of wires and tubes, they're bring drained. Oh God this is so FUCKED!" "Take your tape and HIDE IT!" Shienno came in over the radio, "If we don't make this, this needs to get out, hide your fucking tape." "Yeah, yeah, I'm going to try to make my way back up to you guys, I'll stash it somewhere along the way." He sounded out of breath, I'm not sure from running or puking or both.
I looked back inside the Command Center, Shienno still not out yet. "Shienno where are you? Are you almost out?" I could hear the panic in my voice. "Yeah, I see it, just a little bit further." She sounded out of breath. My hearts were pounding in my chest, and as if it could make things worse, the ship roared to life, lights above us flicking on one by one down the halls. Someone turned on the power. "What was that?" Shienno asked over the radio. "Who turned on the power?" I asked immediately after. "We're still making our way to you." The one team answered. I held my breath until someone from the team that was down in engineering answered. "We did it," She coughed, "But we're not going to make it." She gasped, trying to fill her lungs before finishing. "Our oxygen is depleting rapidly, we're being suffocated," she wheezed again, "Get it.. done. End.. this.." The radio cut out; she was gone. Just like the rest of them. "Shienno, I'm gonna need you to hurry out of there!" I called over the radio. "Yeah, I'm at the grate now." She responded. I watched the screws fallout from the back one at a time, and the grate fell open. A weight lifted off my shoulders watching her crawl out of the shaft. I heard footsteps running up from behind me, I turned to find the other two coming down the hall. "Did you get in?" One called to me. "She just got in, door will be open any second." I told them as they met me. I turned back around to find Shienno at the console, tapping buttons to get the door open.
A few moments longer than I would have liked, the door slid open with a hiss. We rushed into the room, I ran over Shienno to check her over, a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing detrimental. "I found a recording on the console while I was trying to open the door, you guys are going to want to see this." She said uncertainly. We all gathered around to play the recording. Quickly I understood why she seemed uncertain saying anything. "This is the captain of the SS Daedalus, the ship's AI has gone rogue and has started killing the crew down in engineering," the screens showed the recorded videos from the cameras in the engine bay, and like the team from earlier described, it looked like a slaughterhouse, "It's using them as a fuel source, I can't shut it down from here, and it's locked me in the Command Center." As it was said on the recording, the door to the Command Center slammed shut, locking us in. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. The voice continued, with a map appearing on the screen. "I have cut off communications to the outside to prevent itself from uploading into other ships. If this gets off the ship, it could kill millions. It could be unstoppable." That explained why no one was ever able to get information off the ship. If communications are opened, this thing gets out. "The AI core needs to be destroyed; I can't get there to do it myself. The core is down in engineering, just past the engine bay. Destroy it, by whatever means necessary." The recording ended there, with a little red light blinking on the map where the AI core sat. "We can go down there." One of the other guys volunteered, "We came across a room with EMU's. If we use those, if the AI vents the air again, we should be safe for a little while on the O2 tanks." "But there's no guarantee you can make it there, let alone get to the engine bay before it figures out what we're doing." Shienno interjected. "Someone's gotta go Shienno, the suits are the best chance we have, and they know how to get to them." I argued; besides, I'm stuck in here until those doors are open, and I'm sure as shit not letting Shienno in that shaft again. As if being able to read my thoughts, she relented.
We couldn't watch from the cameras as the other team made their way to the EMU's, as we knocked out every camera we could spot. Our radios were the only way we knew they made it there, and they were starting to gear up. Shienno dug through every file she could in the meantime. She found out the ship was the first of its kind, made too long ago for anyone to really know anything about it. And even if anyone did, something like this would have been swept under the rug. SS Daedalus was on a shakedown run, testing its abilities before replicating it and mass producing it.
"We're on our way to the engine bay, no trouble yet." The other team informed. "Ok, we're trying to get the coms ready to go for when you knock that thing out. We will hail the closest ship in range to get us off this thing so be ready to move." "Roger that." "We might actually make it out of this." Shienno whispered from the other side of the console I was working on. I smiled a bit. "Don't get your hopes up just yet. Shit has a habit of hitting the fan when you start thinking like that." She scoffed, "C'mon, you can't seriously tell me this isn't looking pretty good right now. We're just outside of communications, they're making their way to unplug this whore, and then we're out. I can almost taste it." she flicked her tongue out like some reptilian. "Ugh how do you know how to do that?" I squirmed. "I dated an Aecek way back in the day. Pick up some freaky things from those weirdos." She winked. "That was information I didn't need to know." I shook my head at her.
Our tone went serious again when our radio piped up. "Guys, we found the other two that were down here, they're being carried away by those nanobots that were repairing the ship. Looks like they're heading to the engine bay. We are gonna keep our distance but try to follow them inside." I pulled up the live feed that was inside the engine bay, it was one of the few cameras still operational. "Ok, there's a camera facing the door, I'll try to get it to cycle so it gets off the door." Shienno called, tapping a few keys on the console in front of me. The door on the screen opened, the two bodies floated in on a sea of tiny nanobots. Slowly, watching the two bodies, the camera started to follow them. "Ok, camera is clear, don't follow the bodies, camera is on them, follow the wall to your right when you get in." I called to them. "Roger, we're in, taking the wall." The one guy whispered. The camera continued to watch the bodies, the bots bringing them to a space between some others, a few we recognized from the shuttle ride in. My stomach flipped when I saw the face of one of our Lixoleon bunkmates. "That guy was an obnoxious ass anyway." Shienno muttered. At least she could see on the bright side of death.
The second person was halfway strung up when the bots dropped the body and started to swarm. "Shit, it knows we're here." The usually quiet one came over the radio. "Yeah, we see them, they're swarming on your location, get in that AI core now!" I barked. Shienno tapped away, trying to come up with some kind of diversion. The flash from a grenade was seen out of view from the camera, and some bodies went flying across the room. "We're in!" My head sank almost to the console. "The AI is trying to vent to oxygen again, now I'm really glad we got the EMU's." The quiet one muttered. "Certainly, makes for an easier time that's for sure. There should be a main power line to the AI core, if you unplug that it should be disabled." I said, referencing the layout on the screen. "Done and done." "Uh guys, I think you're gonna wanna get out of there ASAP." Shienno cut in, "I just got an alert that the AI core has a self-destruct program, you have one minute." "Shit," the voice came over the radio, "The door has already gone into lockdown, we're trapped." Shienno tapped frantically on the console. "Maybe if we-" "No," he interrupted, "We all knew going into this that this was a one-way trip sweetheart." My heart sank a little, with no choice but to listen. "Do what you have too to get out of here. Get those coms up and get out. We have done our time, and none of our purpose for being here has been a good one. Make our sacrifice worth something."
The whole ship rumbled under our feet, knocking us over and scrambling for something to hold onto. The lights flickered above us, threatening us into darkness again before stabilizing. Shienno and I looked over to each other, making sure the other was ok. She smiled at me. "Can you taste it yet?" A grin spread across my face; we were so close to the end. Although we had just lost two of our companions in this fight for freedom, we wasted no time. Our companions would be grieved when we make it.
We scrambled to our feet and to the door leading to the communications room. Without an AI to hold them shut, the door hissed open at our approach. Monitors and towers blinked and buzzed around the room. Shienno ran to the nearest one, pulling up a diagnostic to evaluate the damage, and how to fix it. A single fuse was pulled from the main antenna. The only thing stopping us from getting off this ship. "How is it that a fuse was the only thing stopping this thing from getting out?" Shienno thought outloud. I shrugged. "Probably a component its nanobots can't fix. It seems to be able to fix all of the other ship components. Now I'm just hoping the captain had the good sense of hiding the fuse instead of pocketing it." I said, digging through any hiding spots I could find. It couldn't be far, the captain only had access to these two rooms, if he hid it, it has to be here.
We searched every drawer and cabinet there was in the rooms and found nothing. No hints to where it could have been left on the console with the original message from the captian, we hit yet another dead end. I slouched against the wall exhausted, the adrenaline leaving nothing behind. "Here." I opened my eyes to find a plate in front of me. "Benefits of ship food, unlimited shelf life." Shienno chuckled as she placed the warm plate in my lap. I lazily fed myself the contents on the plate. My eyes were barely able to stay open as I ate, my body drained of all energy. When I finished Shienno placed the plate on the floor and urged me to my feet. "There's a bunkroom a few doors down. Let's get you some rest now that we know the ship isn't going to try to kill us." She laughed, but her humor seemed forced. My feet dragged my heavy boots as I leaned on Shienno for support. She led me to the room and dropped me down on the lowest bunk. I rolled myself onto it and let my feet dangle off the edge.
I grabbed Shienno's wrist as she was about to leave, pulling her down. "Neilaill?" "Just, rest with me. We both know you've been awake as long as I have." I murmured through the haze of sleep. "I don't need as much sleep as you do." She laughed. I pulled her down further, pulling her into my arms. "Maybe not, but I'll sleep much better if you did." She laughed again, tucking in against my chest and pulling the single blanket over us, not like we needed it, I probably throw enough heat for the both of us. "Just don't make a habit of this when you couch-surf at my homestead." She joked. I smiled a bit. "Hmm, I don't plan on couch-surfing after this." I mumbled into her neck. She laughed again, more freely this time. I let the sound drag me under the waves of sleep.
But there was nothing. There was always nothing. It was aimless in its voyage. No planetary scanning or dis embarkment. It just floated around purposelessly.
Some species were brave enough to send small crews to it, to see if it was just a dialect ship, abandoned and ready for the taking. No one ever came back. The crews lost communication once they boarded, and no answers ever came from them.
Theories and rumors spread across the galaxy, the ship was haunted, and the crews sent out to retrieve it went mad and took their own lives. Others believed it may have had an effect like the Greek Lotus Tree, where whomever enters forgets their life and remains on the ship for the rest of their days.
Whatever it was, the more and more people who went on board, the more people lost their loved ones. It got to a point where people who went on the missions had to be volunteers, and those who had no friends or family to complain. It wasn't hard to find the people who made the cut. Lots of people from many species lost loved ones to wars, some people were hard criminals or drug addicts, willing to make the sacrifice for even the chance at coming out with the bribe money pooled together.
Unfortunately, I was lonely and desperate enough to make the cut. My family died in one of the many colonies' civil wars, and I never stayed in one place long enough for form any meaningful relationships. I was out on the street most of the time, looking for my next meal in a waste bin and begging for credits to get to the next shithole.
The credits would be nice, a chance to get off the street and be comfortable for a while. Maybe get the chance to get a half decent dead-end job and live out my days with a roof over my head and warm food in my belly. The thought made my stomach grumble.
I waited in a long line, out in the unrelenting cold of a frostbitten planet. This was the only chance someone like me had of getting a guaranteed meal and some warm clothes, maybe even a bed for a night. A suicide mission became really worth the risk when you live on a planet like this one. The line moved slowly, like a caterpillar moving person by person. Some came prepared with little torches to keep themselves huddled around for warmth, others just stood, heavy tattered coats protecting them against the gusting wind and biting cold. Some would give up after hours of waiting and just leave, making the line that much shorter for the rest of us.
I stood outside the door, an armed guard in front blocking the entrance only letting us in one at a time. It had felt like I stood there for almost an hour since the last desperate soul walked in before the guard stepped aside to let me in.
Warmth from inside beckoned me in, and I never hesitated to walk through that door, regardless of what walking in meant. I stood inside, soaking it in for only a moment before someone clearing their throat very impatiently demanded my attention. A female Cheabi sat behind a horseshoe shaped desk, the only desk in the room. Her tentacles spread gracefully out from beneath her, while she typed on multiple holo-keyboards spread around her, all the while, two of her many hands folded in front of her, as she waited for me to get down to business and ask me the series of questions necessary for this type of assignment.
"Sorry ma'am." I grumbled awkwardly as I approached her. She waved to the chair in front of her, insisting I sit. I took the seat, not entirely sure how I should be seated. I felt so dirty here, in this pristine room and clean, professional Cheabi lady. "Name." She ordered bluntly. "Uh, Neilaill. Neilaill Ka'al-El'ars." "Species." "Shaxpian." She looked at me up and down for a moment. "Not many of you left. Shame to see you go to waste at a place like this." The comment surprised me. "How do you mean?" She tilted her head to the side in a Cheabian style shrug, "I would personally be trying to replenish my species if there was as few Cheabi as there is Shaxpian." I shrunk a little in my seat, if there was more than a couple thousand Shaxpian, it might be a worthwhile idea, but with so little population left across the galaxy, it's rare to come by another Shaxbian in a lifetime, let alone one to mate with.
She continued questioning me while I stared at things in the room. A tree from Celevan stood weakly in the corner, a few Bhaver relics along the wall. She typed away everything I told her before directing me to a door on the right side of the room labeled number II. I shuffled over to the door, hearing her call to the guard to let the next doomed idiot into the room behind me.
In the room was a shower, a bench, and a clean, dry black uniform. I rushed to the shower, throwing my old clothes into the waste bin next to the door. I jumped under the hot water, not caring that it scalded my flesh into a deep purple. I soaked in it for what felt like ages, it had been years since I last had a hot shower. At least they had the good sense of making the shower straight out of the ceiling, so I didn't have to crouch to get my head wet. Warm to my core, I finally stepped out. Clean and refreshed I grabbed the uniform on the bench. For a suicide mission, this all was feeling pretty damn good.
I strapped up my boots and walked out the next door. A large Bhaver guard stood on the other side, waiting for me. "Come." Another order. I followed him down the corridor into another room, this one was large and full of ammunitions and weapons. He handed me a variety of weapons, all with matching ammo. With that sorted he walked me down another corridor into another room, a bunk of sorts with 3 others already inside.
"Bed. Sleep here. Dinner two hours. Mess hall." He grunted. Fighting was their strength, not their vocabulary. I walked into the room, three Lixoleon sat on their beds, two male and one female. They were already making bets as to who was going to be the first to get killed off. I dropped down on the bottom bunk and let myself sink into the bed, my feet dangling off the end. A short nap in a real bed sounded great, until one of the Lixoleon piped up from the top bunk,
"So, what sap story do you have to be here Shax?" He grinned down to me. "Too long to bother telling." I grumbled, rolling over with my back to them, hoping they would get the hint to leave me out of their drama. "I bet life's just not worth living for the few of you that's left huh?" He sneered. "Hey man leave him alone," The female droned, already seeming sick of his shit, "We need him alive for this, listing to your bullshit is gonna make him off himself before we even get out there." I stifled a laugh. At least someone here was honest. They continued to bicker back and forth; I did my best to tone them out and let sleep take me for a little while.
The next morning, we were shipped off to a freighter that was to take us to the current location of the ship. It was a 6-week trip, even at light speed. It was long enough for people to get chummy, make some last friends before we inevitably die. The female Lixolean, Shienno, stuck with me for most of the trip. I wasn't sure if she pitied how lonely I was, or just hated the others enough to prefer my gloomy presence.
A plague wiped out a good portion of the population on the planet she lived on, her lover being one of them. She wandered like I did for a while, moving from planet to planet to find something worth living for. She eventually decided she wanted to try to fulfill their dream, build a homestead somewhere warm. For that she needed money, and money she didn't have. This was her only shot at being able to afford her dream, or she was going to die trying, and be reunited with her love. Kinda sad either way you look at it, but it was a better reason than, "I'm starving and cold all the time and I'm never going to find someone to love anyway." She laughed at that and said if we make it out alive, I could come stay with her on her homestead and be sad and lonely together. It was kind of endearing really.
The 6 weeks went by quicker than anticipated, and now we could see the blue glow from the ship's engines in the distance. We were debriefed on what little knowledge we had about the ship, and what our plan was should we survive. The freighter would be leaving as soon as we boarded, mostly because there was no point in waiting to have no one come back. One of our main objectives was to get the communications unjammed so information could be given about the ship. The other was to leave whatever information we could in case we didn't make it. We were all given radios, all of which has recording devices on so whomever comes after can make some progress where we might fail.
Shuttles took us out to the ship when we got close enough. There was about 25 of us ready to board. Shienno stuck close by me since the debriefing. Her face was emotionless, focused, but I could see the fear in her eyes when I was too far away. The shuttle locked onto the ship and the airlock opened in front of us, leading the first 12 of us inside.
The ship was dark, the flashlights from our weapons the only thing allowing us to see. It didn't look like an abandoned ship. It looked rather new, maintained well. The surfaces around us were clean, free of any debris, or sign that anyone was there before us. That made it all the more unsettling. For how many people went in before us, we were expecting something, anything, whether that be bodies, or someone living on the ship. But there was nothing.
Our stepped echoed along the walls as we made our way inside, some jumping a bit at the hiss of the airlock when the other team boarded. "My bet is that everyone who just startled, are going to be the first one's dead" I whispered to Shienno. A smirk snuck across her face at that. "Where do you think everyone is?" She whispered back, the eeriness unsettling her as well. "Dunno, guess we're gonna find out." I patted her back lightly, a small encouragement. She nodded and we pressed on.
Our team slowly separated, small groups going down other halls and checking rooms, until it was just Shienno and I. We ended up in what seemed to be the kitchen. Again, spotless. We walked around the room, looking for any sign of someone before us, radio, weapons. "Anyone find a radio yet?" Someone crackled over the radio. "Not yet" another replied, "Anyone else think it's weird?" The radio crackled with other murmurs of agreement. I heard Shienno curse from the other side of the room, behind one of the counters. I looked over to see her holding a little black box. A radio. I hurried to her side. "Where did you find that?' "In a drawer? Shoved among some cooking utensils." She looked at me confused. I nodded at the box, beckoning her to play it. A hushed voice was barely audible on the small speaker. "Hide your tapes," He panted, "Somethings been picking them up, cleaning up after us, that's why no one has been able to make any progress. All information is being carried away." Shienno and I looked at each other. "Something". What the hell does that mean?
"We found a tape. Check drawers and cabinets, anything that could contain other items. They've been hiding their tapes, so they won't get picked up." I called over the radio. The radio returned with a buzz of noise. Most of which "What do you mean 'Picked up.' ?" "I don't know, we just found one saying to hide the tapes, something has been cleaning house and taking away information left behind." The radio was buzzing again. "I found one!" Someone called out, pausing a moment while they listened, "It's like the ship is alive? It repairs itself. Any damage done to it, it's some kind of nanobots flow in from the damaged spot, like platelets clotting a wound." That would explain why the ship is in such good condition, constantly repairing itself. Who could have come up with something so advanced? I wondered if that's also what was cleaning up after everyone here.
We put the box back in the drawer, just in case someone else would need it. After a thorough search in all the cabinets and drawers and finding no other radio's, we headed back for the door. "We should try to find a Command Center, or someplace that might have a layout of the ship." Shienno suggested. It was a good idea, but the main problem being that there were no signs telling us where anything might be. "Well, someone has to come across it at some point. Or another message on how to get there." I said, "Best to keep moving the way we are now until we find something." She nodded in agreement, not much else to do.
A few rooms later a voice came over the radio again. "I just found another tape; they talked about hearing a voice in the air vents. It was leading them somewhere?" They sounded hesitant adding that last part. Another voice came over the radio, "Good to know, anyone hears it, best to steer clear of wherever it's trying to get you to go. Sounds like a trap to me." "Pfft, yeah no shit." I scoffed. Everything is potentially a trap in this place. We continued down the corridor, checking rooms as we went, with very little headway. We checked under cots and chairs, hoping to find anything to lead us.
"Is anyone down in engineering?" A hushed voice came over the radio. All the answers coming back as no. "Something is down here with us, we can hear footsteps coming from behind us, but we can't see anything." Suddenly the air was electrified. Everyone was on edge. First sign of "something". I felt Shienno do a scan behind us. "I just heard fire; can anyone confirm?" Another voice came over. A chill ran down my spine, no one was going to confirm, because something in us all knew those shots came from whoever was in engineering. "Can anyone confirm?" The voice snapped, and no one responded. Shit. I felt Shienno tuck against me. First ones down, and it was not a good feeling. "Let's keep moving." I told her, trying to focus on anything else. She hesitated before moving along with me, her rifle raised and constantly scanning behind us.
It wasn't long before someone found another tape. This one thinking that they were being watched, and to blow out all cameras. It takes a little while for the ship to regenerate, so knocking them out would give us a few hours of cover. We called them shot for shot, as to not alarm anyone who might be nearby. No one said it, but there were noticeably fewer and fewer voices reporting back. There were about 4 distinct voices aside from ours calling shots after about 2 hours into boarding. Being hopeful, that meant there was at least 5 teams of two, ten people left. 15 unaccounted for. It made me sick to my stomach, but I said nothing as to not alarm Shienno, if she didn't already notice.
We were in what looked to be some kind of entertainment room. A few screens rested along the walls, a handful of couches. I searched the couches while Shienno kept scanning the room for threats. I lifted a cushion to find another black box. I played it while she kept her eyes on the door. "The Command Center is just down the hall, and I think communications is through it. We're trying to figure out how to get there, but the door is locked down from the inside, and we can't get in. There's an entrance to a maintenance shaft just down the hall, were hoping that might lead us inside." My gut churned. I hate tight spaces, and I'm not exactly small. "Neilaill." I heard Shienno call to me. I looked up at her, and she looked concerned. "You good?" She asked. I shoved the feeling down and nodded. "Peachy." She gave me a bit of a skeptical look. I called it in to the remaining others before standing, informing them that's the way we were headed.
We found the grate leading to the maintenance shaft quickly, it wasn't exactly hidden. She quickly unscrewed the bolts holding it and shoved the grate aside. "After you." She motioned. I felt my hearts leap into my throat, and my skin go cold. "Hey, what's up with you?" she asked, concern returning to her eyes. "Hmm?" "Your skin just went gray as a stone," she said motioning to my hands on my rifle, "And you just got this glazed look over your eyes. The fuck is going on Neilaill?" She demanded a bit more sternly this time. I couldn't speak, my throat went tight as I stared into the little black hole. Her petite frame came into view, stepping directly in front of me, demanding my attention. "Neilaill!" She called again, I looked at her this time, and the worlds spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them. "I can't go in there." I whispered. She looked confused now. "Why the hell not?" She almost seemed to be getting angry now. I shrunk back a bit, my tall frame slouching against the wall. "I'm terrified of small spaces. I can't go in there." She looked at me, and then at the hole. "Small? Dude that's like 3 feet high it's not that bad?" I stood up again, my full height putting her head just below my sternum. "Thats two feet shorter than you are kid, and I'm two feet taller than you AND claustrophobic." I seethed, "I'd like to see you fit into a box that comes just above your knees and see how comfortable you are." Her demeanor turned from annoyed to thoughtful. "Ok, I can kinda understand that." She reasoned. She looked back at the hole, and then back at me. "Ok, I'll go in and get onto the other side, I'll try to let you in through the door. I can figure out most tech, this shouldn't be too hard." I gawked at her. "Like hell you are." "Why not? Someone has to go in and it sure as shit isn't going to be you!" She had a point. I shook my head in defiance. "No, we will find another way in. I'm not letting you go in there alone; we have no idea what's on the other side." I tried to reason with her. She grabbed me by the arms, pulling my attention down. "This is the ONLY way. You know it Neilaill and so do I. I'll keep in radio contact the whole time, and you can watch me on the other side through the door." She pointed down the hall to the Command Center entrance. A big double wide glass door dividing the space we were in, and the space we needed to be in. I nodded reluctantly, "Alright, but I'm telling whoever is left to get their asses over here." "Ok." She sighed, relieved I finally relented.
I got on the radio quickly. "Were at the Command Center, we think communications is just ahead, whoever is left we need you on our backs." I commanded into the radio. "On it, we will be there as soon as we can." A voice responded. "Were almost at the engine bay, trying to see if we can get some power turned on." The other team reported. Two remained. We're down to maybe 6 people on this ship. What the fuck happened? No one alerted us that they were in trouble. Shit this wasn't looking good. Whatever was picking us off was doing it very quietly.
I walked back over to Shienno, who was standing just outside the shaft. "One team is on the way, hopefully have some back up soon." "I know, I can hear." she joked. "I'm sorry, this all just makes me really anxious. I really don't want you to go in there." I admitted, shifting awkwardly. She smiled up at me with spikey little teeth. "Aww, I haven't had someone worry about me in decades." She purred. I shoved her head lightly. "Don't get any wrong ideas now, I'm just worried I'll lose my free couch to surf on." She smiled again, braver now. We were so close. SO fucking close. "They should be here soon. I'm gonna get in there, you keep an eye out on the other side, ok?" "Yeah," I sighed, "See you on the other side."
I watched through the other side of the door, looking for any threat to appear so I could tell her to back the fuck out of that crawl space. "How are you looking?" I asked. She laughed from the other side. "Probably a good idea you didn't try to squeeze in her, so many pipes and wires to weave around." I chuckled a bit at that. "How close are you?" I heard her grunt in annoyance, "Well, I can't see the other side yet, so I'm assuming I have a little way to go." A voice crackled on the radio that wasn't hers. "WHAT THE FUCK?" I heard someone scream. "What's going on?" myself and the other team called, I watched through the door, anxiety rising in my throat. Someone was panting on the radio, as if they were running. "We just got to the engine bay! Man, this shit is fucked we have to get out of here!" "Talk to us! What is going on?" one of the guys from the other team demanded. "Everyone is down here! Every person who's been sent here, they're all in the engine bay! They're, oh God," I heard him retch from wherever he was, "Ugh, they're strung up, like-like livestock going to slaughter!" Another retch. "They're attached to a bunch of wires and tubes, they're bring drained. Oh God this is so FUCKED!" "Take your tape and HIDE IT!" Shienno came in over the radio, "If we don't make this, this needs to get out, hide your fucking tape." "Yeah, yeah, I'm going to try to make my way back up to you guys, I'll stash it somewhere along the way." He sounded out of breath, I'm not sure from running or puking or both.
I looked back inside the Command Center, Shienno still not out yet. "Shienno where are you? Are you almost out?" I could hear the panic in my voice. "Yeah, I see it, just a little bit further." She sounded out of breath. My hearts were pounding in my chest, and as if it could make things worse, the ship roared to life, lights above us flicking on one by one down the halls. Someone turned on the power. "What was that?" Shienno asked over the radio. "Who turned on the power?" I asked immediately after. "We're still making our way to you." The one team answered. I held my breath until someone from the team that was down in engineering answered. "We did it," She coughed, "But we're not going to make it." She gasped, trying to fill her lungs before finishing. "Our oxygen is depleting rapidly, we're being suffocated," she wheezed again, "Get it.. done. End.. this.." The radio cut out; she was gone. Just like the rest of them. "Shienno, I'm gonna need you to hurry out of there!" I called over the radio. "Yeah, I'm at the grate now." She responded. I watched the screws fallout from the back one at a time, and the grate fell open. A weight lifted off my shoulders watching her crawl out of the shaft. I heard footsteps running up from behind me, I turned to find the other two coming down the hall. "Did you get in?" One called to me. "She just got in, door will be open any second." I told them as they met me. I turned back around to find Shienno at the console, tapping buttons to get the door open.
A few moments longer than I would have liked, the door slid open with a hiss. We rushed into the room, I ran over Shienno to check her over, a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing detrimental. "I found a recording on the console while I was trying to open the door, you guys are going to want to see this." She said uncertainly. We all gathered around to play the recording. Quickly I understood why she seemed uncertain saying anything. "This is the captain of the SS Daedalus, the ship's AI has gone rogue and has started killing the crew down in engineering," the screens showed the recorded videos from the cameras in the engine bay, and like the team from earlier described, it looked like a slaughterhouse, "It's using them as a fuel source, I can't shut it down from here, and it's locked me in the Command Center." As it was said on the recording, the door to the Command Center slammed shut, locking us in. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. The voice continued, with a map appearing on the screen. "I have cut off communications to the outside to prevent itself from uploading into other ships. If this gets off the ship, it could kill millions. It could be unstoppable." That explained why no one was ever able to get information off the ship. If communications are opened, this thing gets out. "The AI core needs to be destroyed; I can't get there to do it myself. The core is down in engineering, just past the engine bay. Destroy it, by whatever means necessary." The recording ended there, with a little red light blinking on the map where the AI core sat. "We can go down there." One of the other guys volunteered, "We came across a room with EMU's. If we use those, if the AI vents the air again, we should be safe for a little while on the O2 tanks." "But there's no guarantee you can make it there, let alone get to the engine bay before it figures out what we're doing." Shienno interjected. "Someone's gotta go Shienno, the suits are the best chance we have, and they know how to get to them." I argued; besides, I'm stuck in here until those doors are open, and I'm sure as shit not letting Shienno in that shaft again. As if being able to read my thoughts, she relented.
We couldn't watch from the cameras as the other team made their way to the EMU's, as we knocked out every camera we could spot. Our radios were the only way we knew they made it there, and they were starting to gear up. Shienno dug through every file she could in the meantime. She found out the ship was the first of its kind, made too long ago for anyone to really know anything about it. And even if anyone did, something like this would have been swept under the rug. SS Daedalus was on a shakedown run, testing its abilities before replicating it and mass producing it.
"We're on our way to the engine bay, no trouble yet." The other team informed. "Ok, we're trying to get the coms ready to go for when you knock that thing out. We will hail the closest ship in range to get us off this thing so be ready to move." "Roger that." "We might actually make it out of this." Shienno whispered from the other side of the console I was working on. I smiled a bit. "Don't get your hopes up just yet. Shit has a habit of hitting the fan when you start thinking like that." She scoffed, "C'mon, you can't seriously tell me this isn't looking pretty good right now. We're just outside of communications, they're making their way to unplug this whore, and then we're out. I can almost taste it." she flicked her tongue out like some reptilian. "Ugh how do you know how to do that?" I squirmed. "I dated an Aecek way back in the day. Pick up some freaky things from those weirdos." She winked. "That was information I didn't need to know." I shook my head at her.
Our tone went serious again when our radio piped up. "Guys, we found the other two that were down here, they're being carried away by those nanobots that were repairing the ship. Looks like they're heading to the engine bay. We are gonna keep our distance but try to follow them inside." I pulled up the live feed that was inside the engine bay, it was one of the few cameras still operational. "Ok, there's a camera facing the door, I'll try to get it to cycle so it gets off the door." Shienno called, tapping a few keys on the console in front of me. The door on the screen opened, the two bodies floated in on a sea of tiny nanobots. Slowly, watching the two bodies, the camera started to follow them. "Ok, camera is clear, don't follow the bodies, camera is on them, follow the wall to your right when you get in." I called to them. "Roger, we're in, taking the wall." The one guy whispered. The camera continued to watch the bodies, the bots bringing them to a space between some others, a few we recognized from the shuttle ride in. My stomach flipped when I saw the face of one of our Lixoleon bunkmates. "That guy was an obnoxious ass anyway." Shienno muttered. At least she could see on the bright side of death.
The second person was halfway strung up when the bots dropped the body and started to swarm. "Shit, it knows we're here." The usually quiet one came over the radio. "Yeah, we see them, they're swarming on your location, get in that AI core now!" I barked. Shienno tapped away, trying to come up with some kind of diversion. The flash from a grenade was seen out of view from the camera, and some bodies went flying across the room. "We're in!" My head sank almost to the console. "The AI is trying to vent to oxygen again, now I'm really glad we got the EMU's." The quiet one muttered. "Certainly, makes for an easier time that's for sure. There should be a main power line to the AI core, if you unplug that it should be disabled." I said, referencing the layout on the screen. "Done and done." "Uh guys, I think you're gonna wanna get out of there ASAP." Shienno cut in, "I just got an alert that the AI core has a self-destruct program, you have one minute." "Shit," the voice came over the radio, "The door has already gone into lockdown, we're trapped." Shienno tapped frantically on the console. "Maybe if we-" "No," he interrupted, "We all knew going into this that this was a one-way trip sweetheart." My heart sank a little, with no choice but to listen. "Do what you have too to get out of here. Get those coms up and get out. We have done our time, and none of our purpose for being here has been a good one. Make our sacrifice worth something."
The whole ship rumbled under our feet, knocking us over and scrambling for something to hold onto. The lights flickered above us, threatening us into darkness again before stabilizing. Shienno and I looked over to each other, making sure the other was ok. She smiled at me. "Can you taste it yet?" A grin spread across my face; we were so close to the end. Although we had just lost two of our companions in this fight for freedom, we wasted no time. Our companions would be grieved when we make it.
We scrambled to our feet and to the door leading to the communications room. Without an AI to hold them shut, the door hissed open at our approach. Monitors and towers blinked and buzzed around the room. Shienno ran to the nearest one, pulling up a diagnostic to evaluate the damage, and how to fix it. A single fuse was pulled from the main antenna. The only thing stopping us from getting off this ship. "How is it that a fuse was the only thing stopping this thing from getting out?" Shienno thought outloud. I shrugged. "Probably a component its nanobots can't fix. It seems to be able to fix all of the other ship components. Now I'm just hoping the captain had the good sense of hiding the fuse instead of pocketing it." I said, digging through any hiding spots I could find. It couldn't be far, the captain only had access to these two rooms, if he hid it, it has to be here.
We searched every drawer and cabinet there was in the rooms and found nothing. No hints to where it could have been left on the console with the original message from the captian, we hit yet another dead end. I slouched against the wall exhausted, the adrenaline leaving nothing behind. "Here." I opened my eyes to find a plate in front of me. "Benefits of ship food, unlimited shelf life." Shienno chuckled as she placed the warm plate in my lap. I lazily fed myself the contents on the plate. My eyes were barely able to stay open as I ate, my body drained of all energy. When I finished Shienno placed the plate on the floor and urged me to my feet. "There's a bunkroom a few doors down. Let's get you some rest now that we know the ship isn't going to try to kill us." She laughed, but her humor seemed forced. My feet dragged my heavy boots as I leaned on Shienno for support. She led me to the room and dropped me down on the lowest bunk. I rolled myself onto it and let my feet dangle off the edge.
I grabbed Shienno's wrist as she was about to leave, pulling her down. "Neilaill?" "Just, rest with me. We both know you've been awake as long as I have." I murmured through the haze of sleep. "I don't need as much sleep as you do." She laughed. I pulled her down further, pulling her into my arms. "Maybe not, but I'll sleep much better if you did." She laughed again, tucking in against my chest and pulling the single blanket over us, not like we needed it, I probably throw enough heat for the both of us. "Just don't make a habit of this when you couch-surf at my homestead." She joked. I smiled a bit. "Hmm, I don't plan on couch-surfing after this." I mumbled into her neck. She laughed again, more freely this time. I let the sound drag me under the waves of sleep.
Crew
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments